Another good bill at The Water Rats this Thursday night. Yes, Thursday night seems to be becoming 'the new Friday Night'. And the serious live music fans are out in force - those lightweights who won't go out on a 'School night' are missing out big time! Yes, I know that not everyone can handle getting up early and going to work after a night out - especially if they have to travel far. But I have to get up and go work at 5AM most mornings and I can still manage it.
The Water Rats is certainly one of London's more intimate live music venues - I remember having to watch Therapy? from the TV screens in the front bar a few years ago as it was too crowded to get into the back room where the band were playing! Fortunately that isn't an issue tonight, although the turnout is still good for a couple of underground bands on a Thursday night. The venue has undergone an extensive refurb since those days, and the notoriously stinky downstairs toilets have been confined to history - although real ales are no longer served which is a backward step. 🙄 So I don't drink much at this venue these days.
Opening the bill tonight are the always excellent Speedways.
With their mixture of punk attitude, rock 'n' roll, and New Wave they always put on a lively performance.
But it's not just all about putting on an energetic show - The Speedways know that you also need some good tunes to back it up.
That box can also be ticked - there are tunes-a-plenty to be heard here. These boys know how to write a catchy hook-filled song. And they also know how to deliver it with a snappy live show
The Speedways originally formed just to play one show to open the
Some Weird Sin Club's then new Pump It Up Powerpop Weekender festival, and they haven't looked back since! Not content with continuing to play live, they have also recorded many
albums and EPs.
The Speedways are no 'warm-up' act and are certainly good enough to headline in their own right, but tonight that honour goes to
Marc Valentine and his band.
With
Last Great Dreamers now on indefinite hiatus Marc and Slyder from the band have busied themselves with their own solo projects - both rather good. Both have also played live and released albums, with Marc being the most prolific of the two. While Slyder has veered in a harder rock direction Marc has kept more to the original Last Great Dreamers pop/rock template, although with all new songs.
Marc has put an excellent new band together, although the bassist seems to have changed since I last saw them.
The music seems to have been labelled as 'Powerpop', although I wasn't really aware that was or is a genre? It's sort of reminiscent of the 1980's but with a hint of earlier Glam Rock, and very British sounding.
It's all very guitar based, but with a polished 'pop' sheen - catchy tunes and hooks abound.
Marc has natural and unique stage presence and charisma - he could be disguised in different clothes and with a mask over his face, but you'd still know from his moves and the shapes he throws that it's him. I guess that is star quality.
With quite a lot of solo gigs under his belt the past couple of years or so
Marc Valentine has become a polished and accomplished performer, but maybe he always was? His songwriting is certainly similar in style to that heard in Last Great Dreamers - sort of catchy and bouncy without being too lightweight and throwaway - there is still a 'rock' edge to be found.
Once again a great night of quality rock musical entertainment in a small London music venue at a very reasonable door price. Most the gigs I go to these days are only 10-15 quid or so for several bands. Some people claim to be live music fans, but moan about paying to see bands and think it should always be free like in their local pub where the same bands play the same cover songs every week. But they will happily spend well over £20 on drinks alone in the pub - well over what I usually pay for a ticket to see several bands at venues like this, The Dublin Castle or Hope & Anchor. Beers might be more expensive in those venues than the local pub, but these days the difference isn't always that much And drinking is optional in music venues - if you don't buy a drink in a pub you might get thrown out for taking the piss, but if you've paid to get into a venue to see a band you can stay in a there all night and not drink anything at all. Or do what I do these days and drink less instead of throwing it down my throat like I used to.
I have noticed a difference in recent times due to beer prices at gigs. A few years ago I would go to see a band at somewhere like The Garage in Highbury, and virtually everyone in the venue would have a drink in their hand. These days I go to the same venues to see similar bands, but most of the people in the crowd watching the band don't have a drink in their hands at all! Do the people who run these venues notice this? And do they wonder why that is?
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